Promise of a Touch
by Golden-Fire-Goddess
Summary: [One Shot] Things are never what they seem and what may seem like the truth may in fact be far from. KeikoKurama. Please read and review.


**Promise in a Touch**

By Golden-fire-goddess

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Yuu Yuu Hakushou.**_

Kurama looked at the enticingly beautiful creature that lay sleeping in his arms. The fight had taken a lot out of her and she was close to being completely exhausted. Of course Yuusuke had to make things harder on her, pushing her to her complete and utter limit now that they were no longer dating. Truth was that no matter what happened between the two, Keiko would always be in one way or another connected with him and thus making her an easy and tempting target for those who would try to use her to get to Yuusuke. The solution: train Keiko to fight. Of course considering that she had and still was able to keep the former spirit detective under control, she was able to do more than just slap him. Which brought Kurama's thoughts back to where what had happened.

Everything had started out as usual. Keiko coming for training at Genkai's, Yuusuke pissing her off, Yuusuke making friends with a tree, Hiei and Kuwabara laughing, and Kurama was trying to help Yuusuke off the poor tree all the while gazing at Keiko out of the corner of his eye. Of course the training also included Boton, Shizuru, and Yukina; he really didn't pay too much attention to that. It was Keiko who had caught his attention; however the reason as to why was completely eluding him and Youko wasn't helping in the least. His own sudden attraction to Keiko had started the calm and collected red-head. But here she was and after that impossible fight. It just had to be today that a A-class demon would come and try to get to Yuusuke and leave it to Yuusuke to manage to get Keiko right in the middle of the fight. Never mind that they had beaten the demon, it was just that Keiko had taken the worst of the beatings and even though Yukina had healed her, it would be a while before she could completely be on her feet. Of course trouble always comes in threes, so of course there were two other demons who would try for Yuusuke's head. Yuusuke had almost talked Keiko into once again fighting, but out of sympathy Hiei had taken it upon himself to knock the poor girl out. He had handed Kurama the limp form of Keiko and gave a knowing look before helping to get rid of the two demons and then, with Kuwabara right with him, knocked some sense into (read beat the shit out of) Yuusuke.

Kurama hadn't felt the need to relinquish his hold on Keiko when all was said and done, much to the amusement of Genkai and Shizuru. It would seem that those two would need to be questioned later for whatever information they had that would lead them to look at him thus. He had, however asked to be brought to a room in order to care for Keiko's wounds and to make sure that the fire apparition didn't accidentally give her a concussion. Once Kurama had made sure that she was completely all right, he decided to stay right there and gaze upon her sleeping and unguarded form. She was and is beautiful. Strong and loyal and extremely spirited considering her part played in many a evil plot against the Reikai Tantei. His hands, on their own accord of course, began to trace her features. He memorized the texture of her skin and mapped out the features of her face. He would have gone lower to trace the lines of her neck, but Youko was too close to the surface and Keiko was beginning to awaken. But for the life of him, he couldn't stop touching her. He could blame Youko, but he knew that it was both parts of him that made it hard to move his hand away. He, they, had long wondered what her skin felt like, tasted like, that now that he was able to touch her he was going to throw caution to the wind.

Keiko quietly purred, the feathery feeling felt too good for words. Although the touch was a bit rough, she could place the caress as tender and completely gentle. She leaned into the touch, not opening her eyes, silently pleading for more. The touch continued much to her delight, even if it was a bit hesitant when she had leaned into it. She was enjoying, but for the life of her couldn't place who was touching her in such an intimate fashion. Yuusuke had Boton, Kuwabara had Yukina, and Hiei… well she wasn't too sure about Hiei, he mainly kept to himself but she knew he wouldn't do such a thing to her. Kurama wouldn't do this either. Whenever they met he had been too polite, too distant, so much so that she thought that it would be best if she didn't' approach him seeing that he didn't seem to like her much. Since she had quickly eliminated all of the possible choices, she realized that she really shouldn't be enjoying this touch until she knew that she was completely safe and not in the demented hands of some demon after Yuusuke. Opening her eyes, she met with an emerald green gaze that she had only dreamed about for; well she didn't know how long. Startled she stiffened and became unsure of what to do next.

Kurama quietly groaned in disappointment when Keiko had stopped responding and had stiffened. He knew he had blown his chance and thought that it would possibly be for the best that he left. But he could and Youko was making it even harder, it would seem that Youko was getting stronger and was now able to have control over some parts of his body. A little talk between the two of them would be happening later, right now it would be best to try and get Keiko to relax lest she locked up some of the muscles that he had somehow managed to loosen.

As Kurama had gone into self-contemplation mode, Keiko had relaxed once the initial shock had worked its way out of her system. She relaxed all her muscles and sat up watching the emotions play on Kurama's normally guarded face. She smiled slightly and reached out her hand to shake his shoulder to get his attention. Unfortunately when she did so, she had caught him off guard and he had reflexively knocked her hand away. He blinked owlishly at her a moment and then reached a hand to his temple. Keiko felt empty and sad at that.

"I'm sorry Keiko. I didn't mean to scare you." Kurama had his guard up and now she could no longer see what he was thinking or feeling.

'Damn masks. Yuusuke's right. He's too good with those.' Keiko thought bitterly.

"I think it would be best for me to leave now." Kurama was once again falling back on the only thing that could distance himself from Keiko. Something that he had used possibly way too much, since she only sparingly talked with him after a while.

'Again with the overwhelming politeness. I'm going to try again and so help me if he does keep with the polite act… I don't even know what I'll do.'

"You were the one who took care of me Kurama?" Kurama tensed at her question, Youko having a field day with that one sentence.

"I, Yes. I did bring you here after Hiei knocked you out." Keiko nodded and studied him for a second, her curiosity couldn't be contained. Kurama however was just about to leave the room when Keiko called out to him.

"Why?" That little phrase was enough to make him tense and knew that no matter what she **_would_** find out 'why' whether he liked it or not, it stood to reason to just get it over with and try to move on with his life once she had rejected him. With a sigh, Kurama sat back down beside her.

"Well, because I think I like you and I have long wondered what you skin would feel like." Kurama was tense, he didn't like baring himself to others for obvious reasons and one of those was being hurt.

Keiko stared at him, not saying a word. Her face was beginning to become red and Kurama began to think that she was getting angry with him. He stood to leave and almost made it to the door when something stopped him.

Keiko was lost and she didn't know what to say back. She was startled when Kurama suddenly stood and headed towards the door. She knew that if she didn't act now, something bad would happen. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it would be bad for the both of them. So she quickly picked herself up, ignoring the shooting pain in her body and placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking out that door.

"Kurama, wait." He tensed even more and stood there staring at the door.

"Keiko, I think it would be best for me if I left."

"No, Kurama. Please, turn around." Nothing was given away in her voice, but he didn't comply with her request.

"Kurama, turn around." Keiko was getting miffed. He could hear it in her voice. Closing his eyes, he slowly turned around to face whatever she had planned for him. What he got, he completely didn't expect.

Keiko, was getting miffed and had seriously contemplated physically turning him around to face her. So, she was surprised and happy that he had complied. She watched his face as he turned, and a frown appeared on her face. He had his eyes closed and looked very unhappy. She didn't like it and before she could properly think about what she was doing, she surprised the both of them.

Kurama's eyes opened and stared into brown eyes. Eyes that sparkled as her lips were pressed to his. A moments shock and he wrapped his arms around her small body, taking over the kiss. He watched as her eyes closed in enjoyment and felt her purr against him, before he too closed his eyes. Minutes passes and neither one noticed that Hiei and Yuusuke had looked in the window and seen them. The need for air caused the two of them part, both short of breath.

"Keiko?" Kurama looked at her confused.

"What, you thought that I didn't like you or something? If anything I thought that you didn't like me." She giggled nervously.

"I do. I just thought that you didn't because you stayed away." Kurama felt bewildered.

"And here I thought you didn't like me because you got too polite every time we talked." Keiko smiled at Kurama. Kurama smiled back, feeling relieved that she did not, in fact, hate him and did the only thing that was appropriate at that moment. He kissed her, long and hard. Long enough for Yuusuke to bang on the door and demand that they get out of his room before they did anything naughty unless they wanted to be video taped as payment. They broke apart and gaped at the door before looking back at one another, promising that this was far from over. They opened the door and walked out of the room to be greeted with hoots, hollers, whistle and cat-calls from their so-called friends. They laughed good naturedly and teased back. Both Keiko and Kurama glancing at the other throughout the evening, silently promising that later on they would make up for lost time.

Owari


End file.
